False Expectations
by Blaze X
Summary: Something all Autobots are taught from an early age is that all Decepticons are evil. An easy claim when they were the ones that won the war, and most Autobots now will never actually meet a Decepticon. When Prowl meets a Decepticon who seems to have no interest in fighting Autobots, he starts to call these teachings into question.
1. Strange Encounter

Sometimes there were days when Prowl just needed to get away, and most of the time it was Bumblebee's fault. When those days came he would go to the one place the others, sans Bulkhead, didn't know about: Dinobot Island. Sure the Dinobots could be rambunctious, but they never purposefully annoyed him. When Prowl arrived on the island he was met with the strange sight of a tall blue fembot casually chatting with Grimlock. Normally he would just chalk another Cybertronian on Earth as simply an odd occurrence, but this one's size suggested she was a Decepticon. He slowly got closer to see exactly what was going on, and used his hologram generator to disguise himself as a tree.

The fembot was slightly bulky, her chassis was probably built with strength and power in mind. Her armor was samurai-esque with purple highlights and on her chest had the Decepticon emblem, confirming Prowl's fears. They barely managed to deal with Starscream, how were they going to deal with this Decepticon? Why was she even here?

"So, my strange friend, how exactly did you end up on this island?" She asked Grimlock.

"Me Grimlock was brought here with other Dinobots by a car-robot, after Dinobots lost fight to car-robots."

"That is a fascinating story." She pulled out a small screen that had a picture of the Autobots on it. Prowl recognized the still from a news feed from when they fought Starscream. "Are these the car-robots you fought?"

Grimlock took a close look at the screen. "Yes."

"Excellent." She switched the picture to one of Starscream. "Do you recognize this plane-robot?"

"No"

"I did not think so. That Is okay; I can still find him another way." She put the screen away. "I should get going now." She transformed into an SU 47 and flew off.

Prowl turned off the hologram then rushed back to base. As soon as he arrived he explained what he saw. "There's a new Decepticon. She's looking for Starscream."

"What!?" Bumblebee shouted. "Why are we always the ones who have to fight Decepticons?"

"Now hold on, Bumblebee." Optimus interjected before Bumblebee could really start to freak out. "Prowl, you said she was looking for Starscream. Does she know the Allspark is here?"

"If she does, I don't think she's looking for it." Prowl answered.

"That's good, but whatever the reason it is she's looking for Starscream, it won't end well for Detroit." Ratchet said.

"What do you mean?" Bulkhead asked.

"She'll team up with Starscream, which is bad for obvious reasons, or she'll end up fighting him, and everyone will get caught in that crossfire."

"Either way we should be on lookout for both this new Decepticon and Starscream." Optimus told them. "Our first priority, as always, is protecting the humans, so we should come up with a plan to move them all to safety if worse comes to worse, and in the meantime we should try to find this new Decepticon before she finds Starscream."

Ratchet went to the computers to start monitoring news feeds, while the rest split up to patrol the city. After a whole day of searching through the city, Optimus called off the patrol, so they could all get some rest, but Prowl stayed up. He wanted to check a few more places first. He left the city and started heading towards the mountains. Prowl knew it was a long shot, but they didn't find the Decepticon anywhere in Detroit, so it wouldn't hurt to quickly check out the mountains before he turned in for the night. He made sure to stay on guard and move with stealth as he searched. After a few hours Prowl spotted her.

Just like last time he disguised himself as a tree while watching her from a safe distance. She was sitting, probably resting, while looking over the news footage again, specifically the part where Starscream claims he killed Megatron. She re-watched that part several times before turning off the pad and setting it aside.

She stood up and looked around the forest with her gaze stopping right where Prowl was. He didn't move. There was no way she actually saw him. She approached the holo tree then put her hand through it, disrupting the hologram. "You did not think I would not notice something that was not here before, did you?"

Prowl transformed to try getting away, but as he drove off the Decepticon began shooting at him. He barely managed to dodge all of her shots, and was only was only stopped when she shot a tree down in front of him forcing him to make a turn which slowed him down and allowed for the next tree she shot down to fall on him. He transformed to push the tree off him, but he was stopped when the Decepticon landed near him and pushed the tree back down. Strangely she didn't push the tree down hard enough to crush him, only to keep him immobilized.

Her guns folded back into her arms once he was pinned down. "There is no need for you to worry. I am just going to ask you a few questions then I will be on my way."

"I'm not going to answer any of your questions."

"You are not exactly in a good position to do much else." She put more pressure on him. "Do you know where Starscream flew off to after your battle with him?"

"No."

She released some of the pressure. "One more question." She showed him an image of Blackarachnia. "What do you know about her?"

"Optimus fought her, but I don't know where she went after that."

She kicked the tree off him. "I will have to go back to my search then."

"That's it? You're not going to do anything else?"

"No. Why would I? You are not impeding my mission, so I have no reason to do you any harm."

With what he knew about Decepticons, one leaving an Autobot alone for any reason didn't make sense to Prowl. He would've questioned it, but he didn't want to in any way risk an actual encounter with her. He knew he wouldn't be able to take on the Decepticon alone, so he transformed and drove back to base. At least he knew why she was looking for Starscream.

When Prowl got back to base he woke the others up and told them about what happened. "The strangest thing was, the Decepticon didn't try to kill me. She just left me alone after I answered her questions."

"Some 'cons are extremely single minded." Ratchet said. "She probably saw killing you as a waste of time."

"I think it was more than that."

"It doesn't matter. We need to start preparing specifically for the possibility of two 'cons fighting each other in the city and endangering humans." Optimus told them. "If it comes to that our best option would be finding a way to get them out of the city."

"Wouldn't that require getting them to shoot at us instead of each other?" Bumblebee asked.

"Probably, but there might be other ways of getting them out of the city."

"You don't sound too sure of that, boss bot."

"Just, try not to worry about it too much. Why don't you and Bulkhead go hang out with Sari for awhile? I'll call if we need you."

"If sure you've got a handle on this…" Bumblebee and Bulkhead transformed and drove off.

"Was that really the best move?" Ratchet asked.

"This is the first time we've had a chance to get ahead of the Decepticons, so the last thing we need is one of us panicking while we come up with a plan."

Prowl knew he wasn't needed, so he left the base again. This time he went to the park so he could just enjoy nature while he meditated. He was interrupted when he heard a jet fly overhead. He looked up and saw that it was the new Decepticon. With how low she was flying and the stunts she was pulling it looked like she was trying to get someone's attention. She must have changed her tactics in hunting Starscream. Prowl called Optimus and let him know what was going on.

By the time the rest of the team arrived, Starscream had already shown up. "Starthief, I wasn't expecting to see you here." He said while flying towards her. Starthief immediately turned and sped up to give chase to Starscream who recognized the danger and began flying away.

Optimus took note of their direction and led the team outside the city toward the mountains. The two may have left the city on their own, but he wanted to make sure the fight wouldn't go back into the city.

Starthief began firing at Starscream, so Starscream transformed to so he could fire back while still flying away from her. "Whatever this is about, I'm sure we can talk it out peacefully, instead of shooting at each other."

Starthief transformed then pinned him down. "You want to talk things out, then explain this." She showed him the data pad with the footage of him admitting to planting the bomb on Megatron.

"It's clearly an Autobot trick used to sow dissention among the Decepticon ranks. Do you really believe I would actually betray our glorious leader in such a way?"

The Autobots arrived, and Starthief looked over to them. "Those Autobots? Or do you mean in general? Both options seem unlikely. The Autobots have almost completely ignored us since the war ended."

"True, but they would see Megatron's demise as an opportunity to finish us off."

"Then why has this not been broadcast across the galaxy yet?"

"These Autobots must not yet have the means to do that. You should make sure they don't get that chance."

Starthief paused at his words, so Optimus decided to use that opportunity to attack. "Bulkhead, knock her off balance. Bumblebee, Ratchet, create an EMP to keep Starscream down. Prowl you're with me. Prowl?" Prowl had already disappeared, but the others followed Optimus's orders. Starthief was knocked off, but she quickly recovered, however Starscream was taken out of the fight by the EMP. "At least something's going right." Optimus mumble before jumping into the fray.

Bulkhead continued using his wrecking ball to try and keep Starthief off balance, but now that she was prepared for it, she was taking the hits with no effect. Bumblebee's stingers were equally as effective. Despite not being damaged Starthief wasn't making any move to attack back. She remained still in a defensive position. It was only when Optimus began to attack with his axe that she moved, by flying straight up.

Starthief saw Starscream start to move and aimed one of her guns at him, but her aim was thrown off when she fired by Optimus using his grappling hook to pull her down. Starscream flew away. "Originally I was going to leave you Autobots alone, but now you are impeding my mission." She flew further up, taking Optimus with her, then flipped, pulled out a bladed fan, and cut the cable.

Ratchet used his magnets to catch Optimus and slow his fall. Two shuriken flew at Starthief from seemingly nowhere, but she blocked both of them with the fan then fired in the direction they came from, destroying some of the trees. Bumblebee continued using his stingers on her, but she still didn't seem to take notice of him. "We need to get her out of the air." Optimus told them when he landed. "Bumblebee focus your fire on her thrusters. Ratchet and I will try pulling her down."

Optimus used his grappling hook to grab Starthief and start pulling her down, Bulkhead grabbed Optimus's cable to help, and Ratchet used his magnets to assist further. Bumblebee started focusing his fire more, and it seemed to have some effect. The edge of Starthief's fan glowed black and energy spikes formed on it. She then used to create a strong gust forcing the three holding her down back. They still managed to hold on to her though, causing her to be moved with them.

Once she was low enough. Prowl jumped up to attack her more directly. He attacked her wings with his shuriken. Starthief quickly blasted at the ground near the other four causing them to let her go, then turned all of her attention towards Prowl as she flew away from the others doing a lot aerobatic maneuvers to get Prowl's grip to loosen. Once it did she grabbed him and used her fan to threaten him with one of the spikes pointed directly at his neck. Her intentions were clear. "Give me one reason not to end your life."

"Why haven't you done it yet?"

"Excuse me?"

"You've had plenty of chances, but it's only now that you're resorting to it, and you're still giving me an out. Why?"

"You are the first Autobot that I know of that has tried to understand a Decepticon instead of simply deciding we are all purely evil. You must be the type to try and understand everything around you. I admire that." She slowly landed again then gently placed Prowl back on the ground. "Why did you attack me when I meant your team no harm?"

"We were worried you would harm the humans in that city."

"Humans? Oh the dominant life form on this planet." She glanced over to the city while she thought for a moment, she then turned her attention back to Prowl. "Very well. I will leave humans alone and make sure no harm comes to them, if your team stays out of my way while I am on this planet."

"Why are you on Earth?"

"Only to snuff out Starscream's spark and bring Blackarachnia back to New Kaon."

Prowl saw no reason why they would want to stop her mission, plus she didn't mention the Allspark, so she must not know it's on Earth. "How do I know you'll actually honor this deal?"

"I kept my word in regards to not harming you unless you interfered did I not?"

"Okay, I'll keep my team out of your way."

Starthief smiled. "Good to hear." She transformed and flew off in the direction she last saw Starscream fly in, just as the rest of the team found Prowl.

"What just happened?" Bumblebee asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Prowl answered. "but I'll explain it was best as I can on the way back home."


	2. Past Discretions

**Thousands of Stellar Cycles Ago**

 **On the Planet Archa 7**

 _The first thing she did after being changed was put on a helmet she found to cover her face. The second thing she did was activate the emergency beacon in the ship. She knew if she went back to Cybertron the Autobot science guild would dissect her for study, and after Optimus and Sentinel left her, she didn't want to go back anyway. While waiting for someone to respond to the emergency beacon she thought about what she could offer the Decepticons to convince them to let her join. Autobot intelligence was the obvious answer, but she wanted to do more than that. She majored in science at the Academy, so she could probably offer them some of what she had been working on, like her theories on creating a triple changer._

 _After a few solar cycles someone finally arrived. Elita remained in the crashed ship waiting for her to get down there. As the Decepticon entered the ship she was attacked by the spiders, but with a few well-placed shots she was able to easily handle them. She then turned to Elita. "Are the one who activated the emergency beacon?"_

" _Yes. I ended up stranded here. I didn't know what else to do."_

" _That helmet, did you take it from a dead Decepticon?"_

" _I didn't see anyone else here."_

" _Well you wear it better than Tarantulas ever did. Why did you activate the beacon? You are clearly not a Decepticon."_

" _No, but I want to join."_

 _The Decepticon gave a bemused grin. "While the Decepticons are not the huge organiphobes Autobots are, we will not allow just anyone to join our ranks. You are going to have to prove yourself first. What do you have to offer the Decepticons?"_

" _I can offer Autobot intelligence. I was in the Elite Guard Academy before coming here, so I can offer a lot in that regard."_

" _Do you think incomplete Elite Guard training is going to impress me?" She began walking away fully intent on leaving the former Autobot alone on the planet._

" _Wait, I mostly studied science, I've been working on a theory for triple changers, and I can create more efficient means of locating the Allspark."_

 _The Decepticon stopped in her tracks, and turned around, smiling. "What is your name?"_

" _Elita-1"_

" _You are going to have to change that. It no longer fits."_

 _She thought for a second. "Blackarachnia."_

" _Welcome to the Decepticon ranks, Blackarachnia. I am Starthief."_

 **Present Day**

 **Half a Megacycle before Megatron's Return**

Starthief hadn't made any headway in her search until now, when she saw a giant spider walking across the frozen lake. She transformed and landed in front of it. "It is about time I found you."

Blackarachnia transformed. "What are you doing here, Starthief?" She asked with a slight hint of disdain that Sari picked up on.

Starthief briefly glanced at Sari before turning her attention back to Blackarachnia. "I came to this planet to both kill Starscream and bring you back to New Kaon."

"I'm not going back until I find the Allspark."

"...The Allspark is on this planet?" Starthief face palmed. "I should have realized that. I cannot believe I am saying this, but in this instance it is good that Megatron is dead because if he found out I missed that obvious fact…" She trailed off.

"Well aren't these just great times we're living in then. Since you now know what I'm doing, you can go back to hunting down Starscream."

"That was disrespectful. With Megatron dead, these are the darkest days for the Decepticons."

Blackarachnia sighed. "You're worse than Lugnut sometimes."

"Since you are searching for the Allspark -using the human to help you I assume- I can continue to hunt down Starscream without having to worry about that, and once both of our quests are complete we shall meet up and return to New Kaon triumphant."

"There wasn't one contraction in that spiel of yours."

"Did you even listen?"

"If I didn't I wouldn't've picked up on your speech idiosyncrasies."

"Fair point. I will leave you to your search then." Starthief transformed and flew off.

"What was all that about?" Sari asked.

Blackarachnia transformed back to her spider form. "Let's just say there's no such thing as a Decepticon with someone else's best interest in mind."

 **Thousands of Stellar Cycles Ago**

 **On the Decepticon Capital World New Kaon**

 _Even after telling the Decepticons about every piece of Autobot intelligence she had and helping establish a spy on Cybertron, Blackarachnia never regretted her actions. It was only after going through the Decepti-brand ceremony that she started having second thoughts. The brand was what made it real. There was really no going back now._

 _After the ceremony Starthief took Blackarachnia to an old lab that looked like it hadn't been used in stellar cycles. "What is this place?"_

" _Once it is cleaned up, it will be your research lab. You will be free to research anything you want. Just keep in mind you did promise triple changers and better sensors to detect the Allspark."_

" _Sounds like I'm not entirely free to research what I want."_

" _You will have plenty of time to find a way to rid yourself of your organic half I assure you. That said, I am already searching for possible volunteers for the triple changer procedure, so you should make that your top priority."_

 _Blackarachnia began to look around at the equipment around the lab to see if it was up to date and what she needed. While looking around she rubbed at her brand. It still felt like it was burning. "Why use such a painful way of initiation?"_

" _Simple. A brand is far more permanent than whatever it is Autobots use. Since it is difficult to remove, it ensures that anyone choosing to join our cause must be absolutely sure that it is what they want. It helps to ensure loyalty."_

 **Present Day**

 **Half a Megacycle before Megatron's Return**

For the past few decacycles Blitzwing and Lugnut were able to do nothing but put themselves back together after their fight with the Autobots. It would have been sooner but neither of them had the medical training for it, and Starscream only helped for the bare minimum. Starscream didn't see the need to speed things up since one, he knew these two weren't that loyal to him, and two, with Starthief hunting him down he preferred to lay low unless something came up, which something inevitably did.

Lugnut began receiving transmissions from a source he claimed was Megatron. Starscream doubted it, but he decided to go check it out anyway because even someone merely claiming to be Megatron was something that could threaten Starscream's rule. He made sure to keep an eye out for Starthief while he was flying across the city. The moment he picked her up on his sensors flying from the lake he adjusted his course, so she wouldn't spot him.

He made his way to where the signal was coming from and blasted the wall to reveal Megatron. A thousand thoughts rushed through his head at this revelation. The main one being a single question: Does he know?

Starscream figured the best way to find out would be to pretend he's still loyal, and then gauge Megatron's reaction. From what he could tell Megatron didn't know, so he continued on with his speech while debating what he was going to do with this information. On the one hand Megatron was extremely vulnerable in his current state, and he probably wouldn't get another opportunity like this. On the other hand he couldn't exactly kill him in secret this time, and he didn't want every Decepticon who was fanatically loyal to Megatron trying to kill him.

Both his train of thought and more importantly his speech were interrupted when an Autobot charged in. Starscream refused to allow anyone who would so carelessly interrupt him like that to live, so he stopped debating what to do about Megatron and put his focus on the Autobot. He would have plenty of time to figure that out later.

 **The Past**

 **New Kaon**

 _While Blitzwing could be considered a bit off before he was turned into a triple changer, now he was entirely unhinged with a fractured personality. His three sides seemed more interested in fighting with each other than anything else, so while the procedure was technically not a failure the side effects were troublesome._

" _Perhaps a volunteer in peak mental health would produce more fortuitous results." Starthief suggested as she and Megatron stood over Blitzwing who was strapped to a table switching between personalities._

" _I'd rather there not be another attempt until someone else looks over Blackarachnia's notes." Megatron replied._

" _With enough time I can fix the problem myself." Blackarachnia said._

 _Megatron completely ignored her, so Starthief spoke up for her. "I believe it would be more prudent if you allowed Blackarachnia to correct the mistake herself."_

" _I want fresh optics on this."_

" _Yes, Lord Megatron."_

" _Send her out of the room."_

 _Starthief turned to Blackarachnia. "This should be quick." She assured her while leading her to the door._

 _Once out of the room Blackarachnia turned on a listening device she had in the lab, so she could listen in on the conversation._

" _I've been monitoring everything Blackarachnia does here, and she's spent a considerable time researching her organic half. It makes me wonder if her lack of focus is what really caused this side effect." Megatron said._

" _I fear it is a possibility. Better monitoring may be needed."_

" _Monitoring isn't the problem; you need to keep a tighter grip on her. Or do I need to remind you that you brought her here making her your responsibility. Her failures are your failures. All of her slip ups are on you, and if you can't terminate her when she stops being useful, I will terminate you both."_

" _I will admit that I should have been more strict with her, that said we both know I am far more useful to you alive than dead. If it gets to the point where she needs to be terminated I will naturally take of that, in the meantime-"_

 _Blackarachnia turned off the transmitter. She'd heard enough. She should have known not to trust anyone here. She won't be making that mistake again._

 **Present Day**

 **5 Cycles after Megatron's Return**

Starthief knelt over Starscream's body to inspect it. Shouldn't couldn't tell who killed him just by looking, just that it looked like his spark was ripped right out of his body. She did a quick scan for other Decepticon signatures. She picked up Blitzwing, Lugnut, and to her surprise, Megatron. That answered her question about who killed Starscream. She transformed and flew to meet up with the other three.

"Lord Megatron, it is a pleasure seeing you alive and well again."

"Spare me the sycophantry, Starthief, and tell me what you're doing on this planet."

"When I heard news of your demise, I sought to investigate it which led me here."

"How long have you been here?"

"Several decacycles."

"That long, and you didn't manage to eliminate the Autobot presence or search for the Allspark?"

"They were not a threat. There was no reason for me to bother with them."

"And the Allspark?"

Starthief had no answer for that.

"No matter, the Allspark is now within my reach."

As they flew over the lake, following the Allspark signal emitted from the key, the Autobot's ship emerged and started flying back towards the city. It made a quick stop at Sumdac Tower then began trying to leave the atmosphere. The Decepticons managed to shoot them causing them to crash on Dinobot Island. Lugnut and Blitzwing were quickly taken out of the air, but Megatron was able to continue towards the ship. Starthief saw the Autobot he had in tow but knew he could handle that on his own, so she transformed and landed outside of the crater to prevent the other Autobots from getting through on the off chance they actually defeated Lugnut and Blitzwing.

Starthief was taken by surprise when three of the Autobots started driving toward her. Her guns folded from her arms, she then glanced at Prowl and folded her guns back in, opting instead to use her fans. All she had to do was keep them back. The edges of the fans glowed with energy as she moved to a defensive position. The moment any of the Autobots got close she used her fans to blow them away again. Bumblebee got the closest because of his speed, but because of his small size he also got blown away the furthest.

She would have been able to keep it up indefinitely if not for the fact that she was distracted by the sound of an explosion behind her. The moment she glanced back to see what it was, Ratchet and Bumblebee hit her with an EMP, taking her out for a few cycles.

By the time she woke up, the Autobots were gone. She was still detecting their signals on the island, but she was also picking up Megatron's and his signal was weak, so she ignored the Autobots and made her way to him. The moment she saw the shape he was in, she rushed over and helped him up. It was then she noticed what was in his hand. "Why do you have that human?"

"This is Professor Sumdac. He's the one who held me prisoner, and I intend to return the favor."

Since holding Sumdac prisoner required keeping him alive, Starthief had no objection to it. "We need to find somewhere to lay low while you recover." She continued to help him stand until Lugnut and Blitzwing got close, at which point she reluctantly let go of him. She knew Megatron wouldn't want to appear weak in front of the other two.

"I know a place." With how long he had been imprisoned Megatron had plenty of time to go through all of Sumdac's files including one on an abandoned mine he owned. While Megatron didn't care for the idea of hiding underground, it was their best option right now. He was too weak to transform, but he could still fly, so he led them to the mine while remaining hidden from the Autobots who seemed preoccupied with a search to notice them leave.

When they arrived at the mine, Starthief looked around. "Are you sure this is where you wish to hide out?"

"How dare you question Megatron's command." Lugnut interjected before Megatron could answer. "He is great and wise, if he says this is the best place to use a base then all other locations are clearly inferior."

"All I am saying is that it is not entirely healthy for flyers to be underground."

"If Megatron commands it we can endure."

"Must I remind you of what we had to endure while under the command of Megazarak?"

"That was different and you know it!"

"Both of you, be silent." Megatron ordered. "While this situation is not ideal it is the best we can do at the moment. Once we are all fully recovered we will start planning our next move." He started heading for another room. "Starthief I need to speak with alone."

"OoOoOh you're in trouble." Blitzwing's random personality said.

Starthief fired a warning blast at his feet, but she really hoped he was wrong and this wouldn't be about all of her failures while on Earth.


End file.
